Saturday, February 09, 2008

Is Rowan Williams, the artistically coiffed Archbishop of Canterbury, any nearer to recognising the truth?

Not only is there no "God" , but many of his own flock consider that he is not the man to be leading the Anglican World-wide congregation.

Nevertheless, the man is sufficiently hubristic to insist that he was correct in advocating that our law should take account of religious beliefs and even extend the concessions already granted to theists. A visitor to his website will find that this duplicitous man is still trying to justify his position with more egregious nonsense of the same ilk:-

"[He claims that his core intention was] to tease out some of the broader issues around the rights of religious groups within a secular state"

Well here's one right granted to a religious group that I'd like to tear out, not merely tease out, namely the fact that the Archbishop and his 25 fellow Bishops have the right simply by virtue of their position in the Church of England to sit in our second chamber and directly influence the passing of legislation so that it accords with their particular religious views.

No doubt it is only a matter of time before Williams will be adding his voice to that of the Muslim clerics who want the same privileges that have been extended to the Church of England, so that Imams qua Imams will also sit in the Lords. After all, that way they will be in a better position to shape our laws to suit the Islamic religion and bring its some of its adherents nearer to their dream of building a world-wide caliphate.

I wonder, though, why it is that those Muslims living in the UK who are so desirous of living under Sharia don't emigrate to one of the avowed Muslim countries where they will find themselves more in accord with the way of life practised there? Admittedly, few Muslim women used to the rights and freedoms available to them in the UK would care to exchange that for a life in Saudi, Iran, or Afghanistan, to name but a few examples, but many of men would love it, for it would not only legitimise but increase their power and control over women.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Following my earlier story about the mad prelate Rowan Williams, the Arch-Buffoon of Durovernum, it seems that has has undergone a brief flash of insight and realised that he is completely out of touch with the majority of people who live in this country. Apparently, Williams is allegedly shocked by the response that his ignorant and ill-consider advocacy of the adoption in the UK of aspects of Sharia and that these should supersede our own juridical traditions.

According to the BBC, Williams is overwhelmed by what is described as the "hostility of the response" to his remarks and is allegedly in a "state of shock" (and I thought that they had dispensed with electro-convulsive therapy in our professional psychiatric institutions, but perhaps that other psychiatric institution known as the Church of England still employs them). However, why Williams should be upset is a mystery, for he spoke with almost total ignorance of the following facts:-

Though so-called Sharia Law has as its origin "the inerrant words of God", there is no single version of Sharia applied throughout the Muslim world, since the Imams who hand down their judgements interpret the Qu'ran and the Hadith according to their own persuasion and precedent.

Sharia law treats men and women differently, even with regards to the subject of divorce which Williams seemed to have in mind, as a women has a far harder task of obtaining equal treatment to that of her husband when she wants a divorce, so Sharia is essentially discriminatory, unequal, divisive and sexist, not to mention that many of the punishments it imposes are barbaric - a fact that Williams himself recognises - and all these things are matters which we in this country have fought long and hard to remove from our society.

Whilst the overarching British juridical system has been developed and moulded over centuries - admittedly with the interference of the established churches here - the law, whether in Scottish or English law - remains secular and is meant to be applied to all, irrespective of their religious persuasion or lack of it, position, rank, or whatever their unique claims are. The penalties for breaking our laws are man-made ones, not those allegedly ordained by some imaginary entity called "God", though no doubt Williams would like to see us revert to the situation where ecclesiastical courts ran all our affairs once again, but we have long since refused to accept the dominance of religion and its quondam power over our lives.

There is no valid justification per se for people of specific religious persuasions being treated differently under the law than the rest of us and for Williams to suggest that they should be given such privileges as of right is simply wrong. Admittedly our law has made such concessions - for example, Sikhs are excused from wearing a crash-helmet whilst driving a motor-bike because their turbans are a religiously imposed dress-form whilst any non-Sikh without a helmet is charged and prosecuted - but when this happens it simply represents bad law which causes much resentment.

Actually, I suspect that the real reason behind Williams' affront to the nation yesterday was to pander to those Muslim clerics who have been calling on him to discipline the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, for speaking out the other week pointing out that Muslims had turned parts of Britain into no-go areas for non-Muslims. Despite the fact that Nazir-Ali backed up his claims with evidence, it is considered by many of a liberal bent that one should not point these uncomfortable facts out, even though what Nazir-Ali said is undoubtedly true. These inconvenient truths also meant that Williams could not pander to his Muslim friends by contradicting Nazir-Ali directly, so he had to find another way of ingratiating himself with them. Nevertheless, the truth of Nazir-Ali's claims did not stop the Muslims' bitter complaints, nor the subsequent death threats to Nazir-Ali and his family , who are now under Police protection. Strangely enough Williams has been silent on that issue.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, finally lost his vestigial grip on sanity yesterday when he announced that it was unavoidable that the UK allows parts of Sharia Law to supersede our own laws. His reasoning for this astounding demonstration of his insanity was that Muslims in the UK would feel ostracised and left out of British society if they were forced to continue to accept the parts of our laws that they did not agree with. Nevertheless, the Arch-Buffoon of Durovernum was quick to point out that he did not want the parts of Sharia which imposed what he referred to as "extreme punishments" or discrimination against women to be adopted here, which will be welcome news for all those adulterers who would otherwise face execution by lapidation or beheading. However, it is rather strange that Williams has never suggested that those non-Muslims amongst us should also share the privileges he is advocating for Muslims and that we too should be able to set aside the laws of the land which we do not agree with but are forced to adopt.

Frankly, I think it is time this mad prelate was sent to Riyadh to preach to the Saudis that Christianity is the true interpretation of the "word of God" and that Muhammad misheard the dictation of the Archangel Gabriel so that Williams can experience directly the benefits of Sharia Law for himself. Either that or he should be incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital here under the Mental Health Acts and medicated with large doses of risperidone.

Thank goodness every political party and religious denomination in this country has condemned the Arch-Buffoon's remarks as divisive, unacceptable, muddle-headed and wrong. It is only a pity that Williams did not have sufficient insight to appreciate that for himself, but his lack of insight merely confirms that the man has lost his vestigial grip on sanity.